Local Lawmaker Opposed To Killing

Since I’m in the 182nd district, I get occasional mailings of The Josephs Report, the official newsletter of State Rep. Babette Josephs. (Personally, I would have gone with The Babette Gazette.)

In the most recent issue, Fall 207, Josephs lets us know just what she’s doing for us with headlines like “Josephs works to end all discrimination” and “Breastfeeding bill now law.” (Anything that’s pro-breasts is supported by me.)

But the best headline of the report is none other than “Josephs opposes genocide in Darfur,” an issue I wasn’t quite sure of her stance on. Now that I know Josephs is firmly opposed to genocide, I believe she will get my vote next week. (It’s actually about divestment, I think?) Oh, wait, state house seats aren’t up this year? Then whatever.

Like Two Peas In A Pod

Yeah, they’re pretty much the same.

Letters | When Philly equals Darfur [Daily News]

If Shitty Bands Can’t Stop Genocide, Who Can?

Penn student and online Daily Pennsylvanian columnist Stephen Morse went to a rally against the Darfur genocide recently and posted about it on the DP’s blog.

Morse was shocked — shocked! — that the rally was mainly attended by rich priviliged people who had the time to attend the rally. And he blasts American blacks for not attending.

My problem was the sea of white faces who were rallying in Central Park against the injustices of the Sudan. In every corner of the field I counted no more than 20 minorities among the tens of thousands of people who were packed into the park. ¶ I also observed (not scientifically, I must admit) that the majority of the crowd were Jews.

We can only assume that he went around Central Park checking to see if the males were circumsized to confirm this not scientific (he must admit!) hypothesis.

I approached each black person I saw throughout the day. The scary thing was that I saw but one person the entire day who was African-American, rather than an immigrant from Africa.

This event was a disgrace. It was not a unified America. It was a majority of Jews and some Catholics from their faith-based organizations, and a contingent of hippie liberals from Amnesty International. There were no Muslims there.

Ahh, see, he approached every black person and assumedly asked them why there weren’t more black people at the event. Way to make them feel welcome! Not sure how he checked to see if there weren’t any Muslims there, though. Maybe there was an anti-Pope rally across the street or something.

American Jews stepped up to the plate this summer to help their brothers and sisters in Israel. When will African-Americans do the same for their brothers and sisters in Darfur?

Well, at least he didn’t write “brothas and sistas.”

After an imam gave a speech Morse didn’t like, it appeared that he’d get some salvation for the rest of the afternoon. Unfortunately…

Not even a performance by OAR to end the event could help the crowd overcome such harsh and dismal words.

You see, people? OAR is against genocide! Why didn’t you get your free $15 bus from your Ivy League university’s Hillel to attend?

Barely a dark face in the crowd [The Spin]
Editor’s Note: This is headline is approaching “He lost a toe, but gained a thumb” status.
Update, 10:00 a.m.: Fixed (1) the bus cost $15 and (2) Morse’s first name.

Quickies: Much more important than the ‘War on Christmas’

• Hey, you know Darfur? Sure you do! It’s the war we’re all really up in arms about and a multinational coalition is invading because there’s a genocide and… er, wait. We don’t all care about it and it’s effing crazy. A former Marine who witnessed some of the atrocities speaks at the Free Library tonight. [KYW 1060]

• Hey, college kids! Don’t have an independent student newspaper at your school? It turns out the administration can just censor anything they want! Especially if you print cartoons with Muhammad in them. [Reuters]

• If you have a gun lying around, you can turn it in for some Sixers tickets. Apparently nobody working this promotion has seen the Sixers play this year. [Inky]

• Just an update on the fate of The Platters, who have (apparently) 974 people claiming to once be a member: Gov. Rendell has signed legislation making it illegal to perform as a member of The Platters if you weren’t. Phew. [KYW 1060]

An interruption for cuteness (and seriousness)

For most of us, we don’t really form a strong opinion on something until it affects us personally. I mean, we may all think that the Darfur genocide is a horrible, horrible event, but it’s not really on many radars. We may not really care about tsunami and hurricane rescue until those huge disasters hit. And who could forget how the United States’ policy on Osama Bin Laden changed after 9/11 — from not capturing him to… well, okay, maybe that last one is a bad example.

My views on U.S.-Mexico border relations were changed today when a friend notified me of this puppy-smuggling story in the Los Angeles Times. There is a big puppy-smuggling ring in Mexico, that brings cute-but-sick-and-not-properly-vaccinated puppies from Mexico and sells them in the U.S. to unsuspecting owners. Doggies can die within a week after coming home!

All of this, of course, makes me sad, even if it’s those effing ugly pugs dying. Because puppies aren’t made to die! And, I mean, sure, there are the liberal upbringing guilt about looking the other way for honest, hard-working Mexican workers — but there’s no silver lining about these puppies. Grr.

Anyway, thankfully, the U.S. government is actually doing something about it; namely, forming a task force:

On Nov. 15, federal agents searching a Honda CR-V at the Otay Mesa crossing found 16 undeclared puppies in three cages that were covered by blankets and boxes of laundry detergent. The suspect, a Mexican woman with an animal cruelty record, allegedly told investigators she needed the money and had lots of orders to fill.

The Border Puppy Task Force formed last year after a spate of complaints from brokenhearted owners who reported their dogs were turning sick and often dying. They were getting socked with thousands of dollars in veterinarian bills. Common diseases include distemper, rabies, parvovirus and ringworm.

Aww! The Border Puppy Task Force! Who’s a good U.S. government form of border protection? You wanna get the ball? You want the ball? Awww go get it!

Err, sorry. Anyway, they didn’t arrest anyone, but a whopping 362 puppies under three months old were found from Dec. 5 to Sunday. And Philadelphia Will Do is coming out strongly against puppy brutality, even if it produces the cutest press conferences in the history of press conferences.

Thumbnail photo made from Los Angeles Times photo by Mark Boster, which you can see full-size (and oh so cute) on latimes.com.

Smuggling of puppies still plagues region [LAT]
Smugglers selling sick puppies from Mexico [AP via Yahoo!]
DarfurGenocide.org, which is obviously much more important that puppies or even bloggers’ rights